36 Mr. F. P. Pascoe on new Genera and 8j>ccies of 



membranous margin of the third and fourth abdominal seg- 

 ments, " which is so evident in Helopini and all the allied 

 tribes." He admits, however, that " the observation of such 

 characters as are relied on for the classification of this family 

 is sometimes very difficult in small species, unless specimens 

 may be submitted for dissection." Hymcea, as it appears to 

 me, has entirely corneous ventral segments, while Melytra has 

 the third and fourth segments membranous posteriorly. Both 

 have the mentum without a pedicel, and the base of the maxilla? 

 and lower lip exposed. There are trochantins *, I think, in 

 both. At any rate, their intermediate cotyloid cavities are 

 angulated externally. M. Lacordaire ascribes trochantins to 

 Apocrypha, although he says it is difficult to decide if they really 

 exist. Dr. Leconte refuses them without any doubt. With 

 regard to the antennary ridges, it sometimes happens that the 

 difference between the continuous ridge (Platygene) and the 

 narrowed and more limited ridge (Otidogene) is one of degree, 

 leaving it doubtful to which category they belong. Dr. Leconte 

 places his two North-American " tribes " Meracanthina? and 

 Strongyliinge (both otidogenous) in his u subfamily Tenebrio- 

 nidae (genuini) " together with Blaptinse, Boletophaginge, Helo- 

 pinge, and many others, all platygenous — an arrangement very 

 different from M. Lacordaire' s, and attaching to the character 

 a much less degree of importance than is done by him. The 

 strongest argument against placing Hymcea and Melytra among 

 the Apocryphinai is that the mentum is attached to the throat 

 without the intervention of a pedicel. 



Hymcea, succinrfera. PI. X. fig. 3. 

 //. nitida, fulvo-brunnea ; elytris tuberculis succineo-flavis instructis. 

 Hah. Tasmania. 



Shining fulvous brown ; head rather coarsely punctured ; 

 prothorax not broader than the head measured across the eyes, 

 coarsely punctured, the intervals here and there raised into 

 small tubercles ; scutellum large, but its limits very indistinct; 

 elytra scarcely longer than the head and prothorax together, 

 seriate-punctate, the punctures large and connected by a slight 

 longitudinal impression, a few erect, stiffish hairs scattered 

 chiefly at the sides ; on each elytron towards the outer side 

 two rows of large, oblong, amber-like tubercles, the outer of 



* The trochantin is a small piece attached to the outer edge of the 

 coxa ; in the Tenebrionidfe. when it is present, it is confined to the 

 intermediate pair, and it is generally, if not invariably, correlated with a 

 cotyloid cavity having a very pronounced angle over the spot where it 

 occurs. I have given a diagram of the coxa with a trochantin attached 

 on H. X. fie. 9. 



